In the news today, no one can escape hearing about the negotiations for peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians. That these peace discussions are going on is nothing new, but for the last fifteen years, those discussions have taken on a very dangerous twist!
“I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” Genesis 12:3
When the Lord called Father Abraham, he promised to bless him and also to make him a blessing. He promised that all nations of the earth would be blessed through him. There is the potential in Abraham and in his seed for all nations and individuals to bless them and be blessed, or to curse them and be cursed.
“I will gather all the nations, and bring them down to the valley of Jehoshaphat. Then I will enter into judgment with them there On behalf of My people and My inheritance, Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations; and they have divided up My land”. Joel 3:2
This prophecy ultimately promises God’s retaliation against those who have taken the Jewish people from their land, or divided His land, the land He promised to Abraham, then Isaac, then Jacob, in the last days.
What is fascinating in this verse is the fact that not only will God execute His wrath on those nations that divide His land in the future, but that God has also been active in history dealing with the nations over this issue. Below is a list of nations that have scattered the Jewish people or divided the land of Israel, or both:
1.) Babylon 606-536 BC.
2.) Persia 536-333 BC.
3.) Greece 333-63 BC.
4.) Rome 63-312 AD.
5.) Byzantine 312-637 AD.
6.) Moslem 637-1099 AD.
7.) Crusaders 1099-1291 AD.
8.) Mamelukes 1291-1517 AD.
9.) Ottoman Turks 1517-1917 AD.
10.) Britain 1917-1948 AD.
Note: Germany could be listed here as well although they did not occupy Israel.
Each one of these nations committed the same mistake, persecuted the Jewish people of Israel, or divided the land, or both. Each one has suffered similar fate accordingly, either been completely defeated, or greatly reduced in prominence.
Currently, the USA has taken the lead among the nations in forcing Israel to give up land for peace. This policy basically started in the U.S. in 1991 when the U.S. State Department drafted the Madrid peace conference, a conference designed to force Israel to give up land for peace.
The conference was to begin on October 30, 1991. That same day, the largest storm in Atlantic history, formed off the coast of Nova Scotia and started moving westward. Recorded as one of the most powerful storms ever, it came ashore on the east coast on October 31, 2001. It damaged the entire east coast as it slammed 30 foot waves into then President George Bush’s home in Kennebunkport, Maine. As writer John McTernan put it in his book Israel, Blessing or the Curse, " America was put on notice by the Lord God of Israel".
The Madrid peace conference was to resume on August 23, 1992, again pressuring Israel to surrender land in exchange for peace. The same day, Hurricane Andrew slammed into southern Florida.
These type occurrences continued through the Clinton Administration and have resumed in the new Bush Administration. George Bush Jr. pledged to stay out of the peace, but shortly into his administration, he changed his mind.
In June of 2001, he sent George Tenet to Israel to attempt to implement the Mitchell Plan, a plan calling for cessation of new building in the Jewish settlements. On the same day he met with Israeli and Palestinian officials, tropical storm Allison formed in the Gulf of Mexico and moved over Texas, the President’s home state, and dropped over twenty-eight inches of rain over the Houston area alone, causing over $4 billion dollars in damage. The storm then moved to Florida and up the east coast causing damage as far as Pennsylvania. The meteorologists claimed Allison as the “worst tropical storm in history”.
We forced Jewish people to leave their land and their houses with the Gaza pullout - and we just coincidentally get hit by hurricane Katrina that just happened to cause a certain amount of our people to be uprooted and displaced from their land and their houses.
This catastrophic hurricane was no coincidence and no accident. We have seen God the Father release a judgment strike of biblical proportions against our country because our leaders did not know their Bible well enough to make the correct decision on this matter.
God continues to send warning after warning as we as a country insist that Israel give up land that God promised to Abraham and his descendents. The responsibility of such action rests on our own shoulders because God has warned in His Word for the nations to keep their hands off of His covenant land and has demonstrated that He is serious about that warning.